DNA Studies should be included in primary school curricula. Imagine the suspense, waiting for the results of who you are to arrive in class. Every child should contribute a sample of their own DNA and then study his or her heritage. Each child must learn just how important what makes us up, is. When you demonstrate to a child who it really is you will see prejudice disappear like magic. How can you possibly be racist when you discover that in your life chain you have links made of every texture and colour? I look at black people and wonder how much black is in me. I wonder how much white is in them. Coming from Zimbabwe, I have an inherent blackness, my heart belongs at home in Africa. But I am white. I have learned that this happens, and it doesn’t matter. It is how you feel inside that is of consequence. Until we appreciate properly the resonance of association with others, it seems we will not be able to see beyond the pale.

I think DNA should be on everyone’s minds. Yours, that of your friends, your family. For even you and your brother, your sister, are not the same though you share the same DNA. Its existence is miraculous. DNA tells our life stories. All of them. It tells us of the lives of those that came before we did. It is a living history. A certain truth. I think we learn experience before we live it. I think it is through watching our parents tackle life that we understand how to be. This is both a good thing, and a bad thing. It depends on your role model. Being that we all play roles in this life, it is vital to realise that you may be someone’s role model. If you have or had no parents to watch, I think you will adopt the ways of those role models most invasively in your space. If you feel a love as a child, that is invasive. If you feel a hatred as a child, that is invasive. Do not make the mistake of thinking that invasive applies only to a violence. A child’s space is invaded by many things, much of the time, until it is six. A child’s retention – its ability to learn – during this time is mind-blowing. I don’t think respect is a given when it comes to modelling yourself on another. We emulate others because we respect them, of course. We also emulate others because they seem to have a power that perhaps we feel we do not have. We copy what works for them in the hopes that it will work for us, too. This mimicking is not often a waste of energy, but it is not overly productive. When something is done 33 times, it becomes a habit. The same act must be notdone 33 times in order to turn this habit around. Be yourself for 33 days in a row. No holds barred. It’s a real challenge. Imagine spending the next month being completely honest and speaking your mind. What a relief? You might be surprised. Truth is one of those things that a lot of people are not bothering to hear. They are not deaf, these people, they have just mastered the art of selective hearing. To penetrate their particular stony silence we need to have something very relevant to say. Ignorance understands relevance, if nothing else. I think in a world as self-obsessed as this one we need to prove to people that they are relevant. We can start by showing them who they are.

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5 responses to “DNA – Blog No. 21”

When I worked at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, I was the manager of the Changing Exhibit Hall. We had displayed several traveling exhibits on DNA. One of the lessons, I made sure that all visitors understood before they left is that the blood tells the truth and that we are all one. You can’t hate another person or say they are different than you,

Interesting Idea C.J. (the primary school kids studying their genetic ancestry). I’m interested in the embarrassment potential for some kids – or more-so parents. You know, they discover they’re related to Mongolian yak herders rather than Swedish aristocracy etc. Or their father is not their real father. Stand back and watch the sparks fly.